Squarespace, Make It Happen

Continuing with its tradition of delivering witty Super Bowl commercials (remember 2017’s brilliant ‘Calling Johnmalkovich.com’?), this year Squarespace has collaborated with RESET’s Jonathan Glazer on a cinematic production shot on 35mm, with VFX by Mikros-MPC. The 45-second ad features the iconic actor ‘surfing’ on his motorbike at 100mph. Why? Because Squarespace believes that everyone has what it takes to build their own website; and Keanu is here to remind us of that.

Mikros-MPC teamed up with the director from the very beginning of the production, talking through all aspects of the shoot and investigating all the in-camera solutions first, with an understanding of what the finished film should feel like. Stéphane Allender, VFX Supervisor at Mikros-MPC, says, “The piece has a strong, simple visual identity and that really resonatedwith us. It's always satisfying to help the director translate his vision to screen; I feel incredibly proud when we do that successfully.”

Stéphane continues: “Jonathan Glazer is a passionate, hands-on director who cares about every tiny detail of the film; this ultimately pushed us to achieve the best creative result we could possibly deliver. We are always excited when he knocks at our door, because we know it will be an adventure and a real visual feast.”

Film Craft

To perfect the long opening sequence, our VFX artists removed the camera truck – as well as the rig that Keanu and his bike were attached to – by reconstructing the background through projections and seamless paint work. Other VFX in the film included more rig and truck removals, background replacements, CG birds, and smoke.

For the Director’s Cut, Glazer chose to use the bleach bypass method. Once we’d created the VFX, the images were printed back onto film, and then scanned back to us for the grade. The resulting image has reduced saturation and exposure latitude, along with increased contrast and graininess.